A dream of Sunset
by markus.floren
Summary: A star is dying. The beauty is sublime, in a way that transcends understanding. Perhaps that's why we can't look at them.
1. Disconnected

_**Disconnected**_

The star was dying. Even an untrained eye could see it now. It seemed to be glowing redder every minute. Like as if it was bleeding with him. It was beautiful somehow. He was in the begininng of his life, and the star was at the end of it's, yet it would live on for millions of years when he was dead and buried. Assuming he would be buried, you could never be sure these days.

The ship shook as it docked with the station. It felt familiar. He was getting used to it. That in itself was surprising. Perhaps not that familiar after all, he pondered for a moment.  
''Sir?'' he realised he must have been staring out the window for longer than he thought. He couldn't really help it, but it was time he got back to the business at hand. He turned to look at the figure that stood in the doorway, slightly peeved by the disturbance.  
''You know the drill, don't you? Open the airlock doors and connect us to the station.'' his exasperated state of mind seeped into his tone, and he reminded himself to be more professional in the future. The new blood don't really know proper protocol, as odd as that sounds. Yet this one didn't really look like the other recruits, with a clean-cut scar across her left eye, and what looked like third-degree burns, starting from her right shoulder and seemingly continuing down to her wrist. The uniform covered most of it up. To her liking, he assumed.  
She didn't seem to mind the tone however, and set off to accomplish the task she had just been given. She seemed to lack that certain enthusiasm that the other recruits had, whether it was some misguided sense of patriotism or just the power that being part of a top-of-the-line cruiser crew brought, they always seemed to have a spring in their step, before their first battle of course.

He caught himself staring again. Perhaps it'd be good to be on a civilian station again. More things to see than the clinically white walls of the ship, or the dark recesses of space. More distractions. Something to take the edge off, something to take the mind off... everything.  
He took his first step off the ship in what felt like years. Perhaps it had been. Didn't really matter. He wondered how long the door had been opened for, the crew just waiting patiently for their captain to finally move from his catatonic state. He thought the blackouts had stopped, but it seems they had come back at the worst of times. He noticed her standing by the door. She didn't salute him as he passed, he found it odd, before realising the burns must've hurt her muscle fibers as well as her skin. He took a moment to wonder what her position was on the ship considering her damage, before deciding it was of no concern.  
As he took the second step, the rest followed shortly.


	2. Discord

_**Discord**_

''I had a dream last night'' he said, casually spinning his char back and forth. The wine in his glass almost went over the side of his glass as he spun. It didn't seem to bother him.  
''Did you know?'' the answer came slightly later than he thought. She had thought for a moment. Whether or not to actually respond. The hesitation in her voice seemed to note that she'd have preferred the latter. ''What was it about?''  
''I saw the sun setting.'' he paused for a moment, stopping the repetitive motion he'd stuck with doing for quite some time. ''It's been so long since I've seen that. I wish that I could've seen it for myself, and not just in a dream. Reality brings a certain beauty even dreams lack.'' she seemed amused at that notion. Perhaps it was the wine. They never seemed to have a reason to smile any more.

''The sun doesn't set for us, you know.'' She took another sip. ''You'll have to settle for a dream today I think.'' The ship shook from another explosion. In the cargo bay. He felt it in his bones. It was... familiar. Yea, that was the best word. At least, it'll do for now.  
He didn't respond to that with more than a nod. He simply thought for a while. Not even hearing the oxygen slowly seeping out of the command module made him stop.  
''Do you think we're too late?'' he asked her. ''Was it a waste?''. She looked at him, with sorrow in her eyes, but steeled herself before she spoke.  
''It was'' she looked outside, at the assortment of stars displaying a wide spectrum of light and the asteroids and comets floating lazily by, going many hundreds of times faster than they were. ''But we aren't alone, in the end. There'll be more like us. There already are. We matter only if we think we matter.''  
''Do you?'' his voice cutting her off mid-thought. She spun off in an entirely new direction at his words.  
''No''  
A moment of silence passed between them. Eventually, he nodded, satisfied after processing the thought long enough. The door behind them seemed to be melting, he realised. Slightly worrying. Didn't change much in the end though.

''This isn't the worst end imaginable at least''. he said, breaking the long silence between them.  
''It's not the end I was expecting, I'll say that'' she responded, and in return he looked at her with a confused expression. She picked up on it quickly, and gestured towards her shoulder. Wasn't difficult catching the gist of it.

Somewhere in the distance, a star is dying, thousands gazing upon it as it does. Somewhere else, a husband feels the sting of a tear, not knowing why, and yet elsewhere, a daughter watches the sky, blissfully unaware.


End file.
